There's also new funding to address the rising cost of living, with a $45-million energy relief package a centrepiece of more than $347 million worth of initiatives.Īnd as expected, the budget contains money for an AFL stadium at Macquarie Point, with $230 million of the $375 million funded across the next four years. Most of that funding was already announced returning north-west maternity services into public hands, a new helipad for the Launceston General Hospital and funding to progress master plans at the Launceston General and Royal Hobart Hospitals. There's no big flashy centrepiece to Mr Ferguson's budget, but the spending on health and education grows steadily, rising from 58 per cent in 2023-24, and averaging out at 60 per cent of the total spend across the next four years. Mr Ferguson wouldn't rule out job cuts, but said he wanted it to lead to things like 'greater digital innovation' and 'more efficient systems'. They should be honest with the community and say we're cutting $300 million from Tasmania's public health, education and services.' 'They shouldn't call it an efficiency dividend. Jessica Munday says there is nothing efficient about the efficiency dividend. Mr Ferguson said that economic backdrop demonstrated why his budget was so 'safe'.

They include a forecast drop in Tasmania's share of the national population, fluctuations in the national GST pool and cost blowouts of major projects like the Hobart AFL stadium and responding to a Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse in government institutions. The interest bill for that amount of debt is projected to rise to $286 million in 2026-27, more than a third of the cost of the $715-million Hobart AFL stadium.Īnd there's a whole lot of risks identified in the budget document that could make the already precarious situation much, much worse. The debt is also expected to grow rapidly, reaching $5.6 billion in 2026-27. The surplus is projected to be achieved in 2025-27, but when one-off payments from the federal government are subtracted, there are four deficits projected. There's no unexpected cash splashes, with the focus on returning to surplus, despite years of COVID-related spending and a significant write-down in GST revenues.

Expected writedown